Friday, April 22, 2016

Washington, D.C.'s Bathroom 'Bigot Snitch' Law

The Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights has issued an alert for all citizens to be on the lookout for private businesses with restrooms labeled as "men" or "women" in violation of the District's gender neutrality law.Citizens are to photograph and electronically report renegade toilet facilities to the government. Women's complaints about urine-spattered facilities will be disregarded, and all toilet seats will be left UP!

As the debate intensifies nationally over which bathrooms transgender people should use, the District of Columbia’s city government is asking people to report private businesses that have single-occupancy bathrooms that aren’t “gender-neutral.”

A 2006 D.C. law requires businesses and other places with single-occupancy public restrooms to change signs that say “men” and “women” to just “restroom.”

Some businesses, including those that say they were unaware of the law, are being fined for an “unlawful discriminatory act.”

. . . If you see a public bathroom with one stall that is not gender-neutral, just tweet us the business name and location using #safebathroomsDC, or fill out our five question form. It takes just 20 seconds to play a part in making DC a more enjoyable place for transgender and other communities!

We will notify the business their bathroom(s) needs to be gender-neutral and follow-up to make sure it happens!

We've all waited outside an occupied bathroom while the bathroom for the gender we don't identify with was empty. Gender-neutral bathrooms are more efficient, allowing you to avoid that unnecessary wait.

Madam's Organ in the Adams Morgan area of Northwest D.C. serves up food, drinks and music on a nightly basis. But according to papers just sent to its owner, they are discriminating against people too.

“Two of those bathrooms have urinals only,” [bar owner Bill Duggan] said. “They are labeled men's room. I guess we are going to see some interesting gymnastics to use them.”

The District of Columbia was one of the first cities to pass a regulation like this.

D.C. has heard from other cities looking to set up similar rules. Seattle has reached out for advice and will enact its own regulation there this coming week.

In D.C., the rule of the land is that single-occupancy public restrooms may not be set aside for men or women. They are gender neutral and must be designated as such, to avoid discriminatory, awkward or even violent incidents toward transgendered individuals.

But the 2006 regulation issued by the Office of Human Rights lacked teeth. While it won’t be flushed, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ Construction Codes Coordinating Board has stepped in with a more forceful rule — change your signs or face a hefty fine.

To designate a restroom meant for one person at a time (even if it has both a stall and a urinal) for either men or women would be a Class 3 civil infraction and could result in a $500 fine.

In a rather Orwellian development pertaining to the current transgender bathroom debate, the city government of Washington D.C. is calling on individuals to report private businesses that have single-occupancy, non gender-neutral bathrooms.

Some may point out that considering only 0.3% of the population is transgender, there is little reason to assume they will ever use the majority of bathrooms being made available to them. Instead it creates a much more likely scenario of these bathrooms being used by people who pose a direct threat to women and children.

As it currently stands, businesses who do not comply with these measures are being fined for “unlawful discriminatory act[s],” regardless of whether those businesses are even aware the law exists.